One of the nice features of a compact camera with a very good screen like the XZ-1 is that the resulting photo will look very much like the image on the screen - the preview is quite accurate in terms of exposure, focus and color and entirely accurate in terms of composition.

I know you were trying to focus on the little spot of lit-up-tree in the first shot, and that's probably what your eye was focusing on, but the shot was taken from too far back in that case. The XZ-1 has amazing macro capabilities - put it in macro mode and get much, much closer to your subject if you see a small detail that interests you in a larger scene.

Also, in terms of focus in a busy scene, I would recommend switching to center-point focus instead of the default auto-area focus which may choose a focus point that you don't want. If the camera always focuses on the center point, you can focus on exactly what you want with a half-press of the shutter, and then move the camera a bit before shooting to re-frame the scene.

And like others have said, don't be afraid to experiment. It's not like you're wasting film like in the old days! Pixels are free and I've deleted far more photos than I've kept. I'll take a couple hundred shots in an hour if I'm trying something new with my camera.